Converting Food Waste to Energy

States are increasingly taking steps to promote projects that convert food waste-to-energy. CESA will offer a webinar focused on programs and projects in Massachusetts and Oregon. Massachusetts has developed a coordinated inter-agency effort to reduce organic waste. Commonwealth agency efforts include establishing a new ban on landfilling and combusting commercial organic material and regulatory changes that make anaerobic digestion easier to implement. The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s Commonwealth Organics-to-Energy Program also funds public education about food-waste-to-energy technologies and provides support for feasibility studies and project construction. Looking west, the Oregon Department of Energy and the Energy Trust of Oregon have worked with other government agencies and the private sector to encourage food waste-to-energy projects, including a 1.55 megawatt, state-of-the-art, biomethane production facility in Junction City, Oregon that generates renewable electricity for the benefit of Portland General Electric ratepayers.